Nampa & Meridian Irrigation District announced that they will shut off water to 500 miles of canals on September 5, marking a very early end to the irrigation season. Typically, the irrigation season lasts until the first week of October. In 2012, water flows were halted on October 4. Low snow-pack and below normal precipitation are to blame for the early shut off. Not only was last winter's snow pack low, I heard that this summer was Boise’s hottest summer ever recorded since the time the National Weather Service started compiling statistics in 1898. Since the first of the year, Boise temperatures reached 90 degrees or higher 70 times so far this year, which is 44 more days than normal.

The canal water shut off means residential water users using pressurized urban irrigation systems managed by the District will need to switch to another water source such as a municipal system if they want to continue to irrigate lawns and landscaping. Our lawn companies notified First Rate Property Management of this early shut-off several weeks before it became official. We immediately notified all of our tenants that this was coming, but did not remove their responsibility to maintain the yard. So if need be, they'll need to set up hoses and sprinklers or if the house has the ability to switch to city water, to do so.

Unfortunately, I think it is prudent to expect some dry grass and stressed grass, which leads to weeds and insect issues come next growing season. It is recommended that you treat the yards next spring with a billbug preventative and fertilizers targeted to the roots.